Friday's TV Best Bets

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Teach," 8 to 10 p.m., CBS.

As a new school year starts, Oscar-winning director David Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") takes things down to the basics - the people teaching in the classroom.

This film followed four of them through the 2012-2013 season. Two - one doing fourth-grade, the other doing ninth-grade algebra - are from Denver. The others teach seventh-grade math in Idaho and 10th-grade world history in Los Angeles. Queen Latifah, daughter of a Newark teacher, hosts.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE II

"National Parks" finale, 9 to 11 p.m., PBS.

This gorgeous documentary started in the 19th century, with American treasures unprotected. It followed the 1916 creation of the National Park Service and then the surge in popularity.

Now come the problems - the Depression, World War II - and partial solutions. The Civilian Conservation Corps brought jobs to a broken economy and improvements to the park.

TONIGHT'S ALTERNATIVE

"Luther" finale, 10 p.m., BBC America.

A great series ends with one of its lesser stories. Usually subtle and deeply layered, "Luther" has a loud tale of a vigilante who uses the Internet while killing people who eluded legal punishment.

Against this backdrop is the deep portrait of John Luther (Idris Elba). A cop and a brooding loner, he's had strong connections with only a few people. They include his police partner and his wife (both now dead) and Alice, the brilliant killer who was drawn to the only man as slick as she is.

Doesn't anyone do his job well? Also, did someone forgot to schedule the 2003 "Bad Santa"?

Other choices

? "Last Man Standing" and "The Neighbors," 8 and 8:30 p.m., ABC. Tentatively scheduled reruns: First, Mike fidgets as one daughter breaks curfew and another won't tell her son she's resumed dating the boy's dad. Then "The Neighbors" has original songs by Oscar-winner Alan Menken. It seems that Larry (the neighbor from another planet) has been inspired by seeing his first Broadway musical.

? "Bones," 8 p.m., Fox. A stockbroker never told his co-workers of his secret - moonlighting as a stripper. Also in this rerun, Booth's mom (Joanna Cassidy) suddenly shows up after 24 years.

? "The Following," 9 p.m., Fox. A week before rerunning the season-finale, this show has the FBI ready to storm Joe's mansion. Alas, he ahas an escape plan ? and his people plan a diversion.

? "Real Fear," 9 to 11 p.m., Chiller. This could have been fascinating - visiting real people or places that inspired horror films. In particular, it meets Travis Walton who - more than three decades ago - said he was abducted by aliens; lie-detectors and friends' accounts have supported this. That story was depicted in "Fire in the Sky;" unfortunately, we get only a few minutes of Walton and a lot of time with researchers talking to each other and (occasionally) saying they just felt something scary.

? "Blue Bloods," 10 p.m., CBS. Family values clash in this rerun. Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) wants to question a suspect; his wife (Amy Carlson), a nurse, says he can't until the doctors are done. Their son hopes to follow the family tradition of winning the soapbox derby. Also, a secret emerges.

? "Strike Back," 10 p.m., Cinemax. Letterle's men have kidnapped the daughter of an informant.

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Friday's TV Best Bets

As a new school year starts, Oscar-winning director David Guggenheim ('An Inconvenient Truth') takes things down to the basics ? the people teaching in the classroom.